unedible and uneatable

[Ju]

1. What are the differences between unedible and uneatable? It seems more people use unedible than uneatable while expressing something cannot be eaten.


2. Is the above question correct in structure?

Thank you.

 

[Barb_D]

Hi Ju,
I say "inedible" myself. I've never used either of other two.

And I use it to mean that it's too bad to merit being eaten, not that your body simply cannot process it. For that, I'd say "it can't be eaten" not "uneatable."

A rock is something that can't be eaten. (Swallowed, yes, but eaten, no.)
A soup that soup that someone put a cup of salt in instead of a teaspoonful would be inedible.

 

[BobK]

Google hits on 'unedible' <200K
Google hits on 'inedible' >3.5M

Neither BNC nor COCA has 'unedible' at all.

We do use 'uneatable' in Br Eng. Examples:
Microwave 'baked' potatoes are uneatable.
Potato plants, apart from their tubers, are inedible.

b

 

[5jj]

I personally use 'inedible' of poisonous mushrooms, and 'almost uneatable' of my mother's cooking. I understand those who prefer 'inedible' for my mother's cooking, but I have to admit that I survived to adulthood on it

 

[Barb_D]

Sounds like in the UK, "inedible" is literally "cannot be eaten" (like the rock or the poisonous mushroom), while "uneatable" is "seriously unpalatable."

 

[5jj]

Sounds like in the UK, "inedible" is literally "cannot be eaten" (like the rock or the poisonous mushroom), while "uneatable" is "seriously unpalatable."

That's the way I learnt it at school, but I think it's only the slightly (;-)) older among us who still feel there is a restricted meaning to 'inedible'. Even there, 'not edible' and 'poisonous' are probably more common than 'inedible' for the rock and the mushroom. 'Uneatable' seems to be restricted to 'seriously unpalatable'.